Alexander's Maui

The next day, we got up early to watch the sunrise on the east coast of Maui, but it was too cloudy.

We left for the airport (back on the Hana Road). This time we saw the Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees, that we somehow missed on our way there.

They look like their trunks are made of plasticine or play dough mushed together.
The road was so curvy, that my brother threw up in the car!
In Paia, we stopped for breakfast: blueberry pancakes! The waitress gave us wikky stix which are really just really long candle wicks,

but are fun to bend & pose. We drove back to our old condo to pick up Morgan’s PSP that he forgot in a drawer and then we went to buy some souvenirs. We all got “I survived the Road to Hana” shirts.
We went for supper & then to the airport.

Our flight left Kapalui at 9:15 & we slept most of the 4.5 hr flight. We landed in LA – had breakfast, & we are currently en route to Denver. We’ll get into Edmonton sometime this afternoon, and we’ll be home before supper.

And so ends my vacation!

My favourite parts were the warm weather, the water, swimming with the turtle, the zip line, watching the whales, & jumping off the cliffs!

The next day we hiked up the backside of Haleakala Mountain to Makahiku & Waimoku Falls.
It was a 1.8 mile hike.
There was another giant banyan tree which we climbed on.

Half way up there was a Bamboo Forest which was really cool.

When we reached the Falls, we got into the pool & out very quickly cause it was cold(even for a Canadian!), and had a snack & started back down.


When we reached the bottom, we went to the Seven Sacred Pools of Oheo (There are more the seven pools & none of them are sacred).

Many people were jumping off the cliffs into the pools. We swam into the third pool and climbed up a small cliff.

It was fun. So I tried a higher one – it was more fun.

When I got to the top of an even higher cliff, I was very nervous & took a long time to decide to jump – there were so many people watching me.

When I finally did jump, I could hear people clapping & hooting for me.

After we were done at the Pools, we went for supper at Hana Maui Hotel. It was a very fancy restaurant – they were lots of fountains with fish. I ordered a cheeseburger & everyone else had the Mahi Mahi. My sprite had cherries in it.
There was an art gallery next door, so while we waited for supper, my brother & I went to take a look. There was lots of expensive stuff, like a table for $18000. It was made from a rare Hawaiian wood.
My burger was good, but everyone else thought their fish was a bit skimpy, and therefore a rip-off. My burger cost $18! We didn’t stay for dessert.
We went back to our room & played catch with oranges (we had no ball!)

This was our last day at the condo, so we checked out & drove to Hana. The trip to Hana was beautiful, but sickening. There were waterfalls, trees everywhere, lots of birds, views of the ocean, 617 curves, 56 one lane bridges, 85 kms long and took us 3 hrs to drive.
When we arrived in Hana, we went to a Black Sand beach – the sand is black because it is made from Black lava rock. We made a Snowman out of sand,

dressed him in Hula clothes, & called him Frosty Hula.


A giant wave melted him (Thumpety, thump, thump…)
We also visited the Lava Tubes that day. They are a series of caves which were created by lava flowing underground to the ocean 1000 years ago. They were dark, but they gave us $200 flashlights to use that were very bright.


Morgan & I crawled into a tunnel that was called the “Claustrophobia Check” . It was about 45 cms clearance, but when you got in, I could stand up.


Part of the Lava Tube was inaccessible to us, because it is on State land. The part we were in was privately owned. The owner said he thought it went all the way to the ocean and knew that you could hike 20 hours up into the mountain in the tube. While we were there, we used my dad’s GPS to find a geocache – a treasure hunt using Global Positioning System. People from all over the world hide stuff, mark the location using longitude & latitude & then post the Cache online for other people to find it. This one was hidden in the first aid kit on the rock ledge. We found a bunch of trinkets & a notepad with peoples names & dates they visited. We took a magnifying glass, left a homemade music CD, and wrote our names on the notepad. When we get home, my mom will post that we found it & what we left.

When we woke up one the 8th day, we quickly ate breakfast & hurried out of the house to go whale watching. We went to the Lahaina Port & found Slip #3, which is like a parking spot for a boat. We got our boarding passes & went across the street to the Lahaina Courthouse where a giant Banyan tree was planted.

The Banyan Tree was planted 1873 by a Sherriff to provide shade for the park. The tree grows out wide & then drops roots down from it’s branches which grow into tree trunks which provide support for the ever growing canopy. We weren’t allowed to climb it because it’s old, so instead we played a game where we had to throw rocks onto a certain square of cement on the walkway. My mom called it “Homeless Bocce”.

We went back to Slip 3 & boarded the Lahaina Princess – a 90 person boat with upper & lower decks. We sat on the upper deck, but I walked around the boat lots.
We learned lots about the whales. In February the whales migrate to Maui from Alaska to have their babies and mate. There are Competition pods which is a group of male whales who are competing for the affection of a female whale.

Whales are amazing. They are about 20 tons, and can completely jump out of the water (breach) with 2 swishes of their tail! When they are born, the babies are 1 ton each.
We saw a whole bunch of whales, but the two that were the most fun to watch were babies. They were jumping out of the water & splashing!


Sometimes there is a male whale that travels with the Mom & her baby. He is called an Escort. He protects them from competition pods that can sometimes be dangerous for the baby & the mom.

While were out on the Ocean, we saw a Nuclear Submarine in the harbour.

It was dark grey & there were people (sailors) on it (it wasn’t submerged).
Right beside it there was a giant Cruise ship that my mom called the Love Boat.

Also, in the harbour we saw a half sunken sail boat.

When we got back to the condo, they were serving free icecream!


And then we played in the pool ‘til dark!

Wednesday, we went for a surfing lesson at Lahaina.

It was two hours long & I got up my second try.

It was hard & fun. Our instructor’s name was Arnando and he was very animated. He liked to say: “Bro” and called us “Guys” all the time.
I learned:
• Come when he calls us
• Stay behind the buoys, so you don’t get stuck in “board traffic”
• Fall flat, so you don’t cut yourself on the coral & rocks
• Lie down on your board, with your toes 3 inches from the end
• When you get a wave, go from lying position, to your knees, to standing
• Stay low, hands out for balance.
We went for a burger & a rootbeer float afterward.
And so ended our first full week!